Well, summer seems to have officially graced us with her presence in England. And it's only mid-July {surely, she must have been waiting for the British schools to let out at the end of July...}. And what does summer exactly mean to the British?

Luckily, Ross and I have plenty of time to find out this year. We ventured over to a new garden {I'm a sucker for anything with the word "garden" in its title}, and truly saw what summer was about: shirts off, suits on, picnic blankets rolled out on the grass, people sunning lazily for hours in the parks + gardens {I guess when you don't have a beach or pool, grass is the next best thing!}, prosecco and rosè flowing like water, and "nibbles" from the local grocery store shared among friends.

We've seen this in numerous parks over the last few 80-degree days {I didn't know London had it in her to get this hot!}, but the one pictured below is of Holland Park + Kyoto Garden.

The best part of Holland Park were the rows + rows of flowers {I'm also a sucker for any flower ;)}.

Not pictured: the benches lining this garden with people just soaking in the sunshine.

Unlike some of the other parks {Battersea, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Hampstead Heath...}, Holland Park has a woodsy path that offers respite from the sun.

And when Brits need to cool off and trade in the greenery for some blue water to beat the heat? They head off to exotic places or take an hour-plus train ride to the seaside, which is where you can find us the next of couple days! We are jetting off {more like, training off?} to the English beach town, Brighton.